A proposal that would have allowed students who have transferred to other districts under the Arkansas school choice law to remain in those districts has narrowly failed before the state Senate.

The Senate voted 17-6 for the bill on Monday with 18 votes needed for passage in the 35-member Senate. The bill would allow students currently attending school in other districts to continue to do so under a school choice law that a federal judge struck down last year.

The House-backed bill failed as lawmakers are looking at competing proposals to rewrite the 1989 school choice law. The judge struck down the measure because it uses race as a factor in determining whether a student may transfer.